the autobiography of malcolm x first edition

King’s words appeared differently in the published interview. And in his litany of expressing the despair of the Negro, without offering a positive, creative approach, I think that he falls into a rut sometimes.” But I know that I have so often felt that I wished that he would talk less of violence, because I don’t think that violence can solve our problem. “I don’t want to seem to sound as if I feel so self-righteous, or absolutist, that I think I have the only truth, the only way. I totally disagree with many of his political and philosophical views, as I understand them. King responds: “I have met Malcolm X, but circumstances didn’t enable me to talk with him for more than a minute. On page 60, Haley asks: “Dr King, would you care to comment upon the articulate former Black Muslim, Malcolm X?” The interview has been republished countless times, contributing to portrayals of a fractious relationship between the two leaders.Įig told the newspaper his discovery “shows that King was much more open-minded about Malcolm than we’ve tended to portray him”.Įig found the misquotation – and several others – in 84 typed pages of what appears to be the unedited transcript of the full interview between Haley and King. The interview between the journalist Alex Haley, then 43, and King, then 35, came at the high-water mark of the civil rights movement and was the longest published interview King had then given.

“We’ve been teaching people for decades, for generations, that King had this harsh criticism of Malcolm X, and it’s just not true.” “I think historic reverberations are huge,” Eig told the Post. Eig found that in a 1965 interview with Playboy magazine, King was erroneously quoted as accusing X of “fiery, demagogic oratory” – words which have contributed to perceptions of a deep divide between the two men.

The autobiography of malcolm x first edition